Do instructing and adjusting information make a difference in crisis responsibility attribution? Merging fear appeal studies with the defensive attribution hypothesis

Guided by fear appeal effect theories and the defensive attribution hypothesis, the current study examined the influence of the threat and efficacy messages in instructing and adjusting information on crisis responsibility and organizational reputation. Study 1 adopted a 2 (high vs. low threat in instructing information) × 2 (high vs. low self efficacy for instructing information) × 2 (high vs. low proxy efficacy for adjusting information) experiment and revealed that the high threat message significantly increased the attribution of crisis responsibility and further harmed organizational reputation. The high proxy efficacy message in adjusting information helped protect the organizational reputation, however, the effect was not mediated by crisis responsibility. Study 2 replicated the first experiment using a different crisis and introduced fear to the research model. Conclusions in Study 1 were largely reinforced. Fear was observed to indirectly influence organizational reputation via crisis responsibility. The mixed results of threat and efficacy in instructing and adjusting information encouraged managerial considerations when organizations design initial crisis responses.